penness leads us to become more attentive to the mystery of how God reveals himself—of Revelation. By paying close ATTENTION, we begin to notice evidence of his Presence in day-to-day events and encounters. This attentive look at reality feeds and deepens our belief in the mystery of his Word and the gift of his sacramental Presence through the life of the Church.

Prayer and study become more important as we continue to grow in recognition of the very nature of God. The privilege of this new attention is the first glimpse of the promptings of the Spirit of love between the Father and the Son, a real experience of the presence of “the Master Lover”.

Indicator of Attention:ATTENTION is always an active response to a provocation, person, encounter, event that manifests the Lord's presence. Something happens; you freely decide to pay attention, following the attraction that beckons you to follow.

Scriptural Links

There are many! Have small group members/students find some of their own.

Old Testament

Attention to God’s saving acts: “Keep, then, this custom of the unleavened bread. Since it was on this very day that I brought your ranks out of the land of Egypt, you must celebrate this day throughout your generations as a perpetual institution.” (Ex 12:17)

Attention to God’s law: “If you live in accordance with my precepts and are careful to observe my commandments, I will give you rain in due season, so that the land will bear its crops, and the trees their fruit; your threshing will last till vintage time, and your vintage till the time for sowing, and you will have food to eat in abundance, so that you may dwell securely in your land.” (Lev 26:3-5)

New Testament

The attention of John and Andrew: “Jesus turned and saw them following him and said to them, ‘what are you looking for?’ They said to him, ‘Rabbi’ (which translated means Teacher), ‘where are you staying?’ He said to them, ‘Come, and you will see.’ So they went and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day. It was about four in the afternoon.” (Jn 1:38-39)

Attention of Mary of Bethany: “She had a sister named Mary who sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak.” (Lk 10:39)

Opposite of Attention: Overlook...

“But they did not understand the saying and were afraid to question him.” (Mk 9:32)

“Thereupon the whole town came out to meet Jesus and when they saw him they begged him to leave their district.” (Matt 8:34)

Catechism Links

In Sacred Scripture, God speaks to man in a human way. To interpret Scripture correctly, the reader must be attentive to what the human authors truly wanted to affirm, and to what God wanted to reveal to us by their words. (CCC #109)

It is in the Church, in communion with all the baptized, that the Christian fulfills his vocation. From the Church he receives the Word of God containing the teachings of "the law of Christ."72 From the Church he receives the grace of the sacraments that sustains him on the "way." From the Church he learns the example of holiness and recognizes its model and source in the all-holy Virgin Mary; he discerns it in the authentic witness of those who live it; he discovers it in the spiritual tradition and long history of the saints who have gone before him and whom the liturgy celebrates in the rhythms of the sanctoral cycle. (CCC #2030)

Called to beatitude but wounded by sin, man stands in need of salvation from God. Divine help comes to him in Christ through the law that guides him and the grace that sustains him: Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for God is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. (CCC #1949)